Carla Emory has a couple of paragraphs about home-grown rabbit food: "The old-timers who wintered their rabbits on food they'd grown themselves fed them such things as stock beets and cabbage in winter as well as their grain and hay. So can you. Pea and bean vines can be cured like hay and make an excellent hay substitute or supplement. "In season, rabbits like anything green, but you must be careful not to feed them plants that are outrightly poisonous, such as chokecherry or rhubarb leaves, or potato peels with sprouts or the ones that have been in the sun long enough to get even the slightest touch of green. Other greens are only mildly poisonous in the uncooked state such as pigweed, amaranth greens, spinach, comfrey, and Swiss chard--but for a creature with a small body weight like a rabbit, especially a young rabbit, these can be a problem too. Much of the reason that people develop a fear of growing their own rabbit food, or have had bad experiences with home feeding of rabbits is that they don't understand how very many greens, wild or domestic, are not fully safe to feed rabbits, and which are. Before feeding a leafy green or herb for the first time, check the list under "Edible for Rabbits" below, to see if there is a warning of any sort about it. Stick to feeding them human-type salad greens unless you know for sure a wild one is safe. If cooking is advised for a green or category of greens (the amaranth family), don't feed it to rabbits who, of course, would be eating it raw. If it's in the least toxic, don't feed it to them. If it might have chemical residues in it, don't feed it to them. "I plant extra rows of lettuce for them. And when I weed in the summer, I take along a bucket to put the pulled edible weeds for rabbits. Feeding this way you never have to buy a rabbit pellet and they do fine. When fed home-grown stuff, they'll grow a little slower (and more normally) to that 2-lb. butchering size. But it's far cheaper, and I have organic meat because conception on, they've been nourished with home-grown foods and greens, or hay and grain from a source I know is chemical-free. "Vegetables/Greens/Fruits: A combination of grains is better than a single one. A combination of veggies and greens plus grain and hay is better yet. Let your rabbits do some of the picking and choosing. They'll choose what they need. They'lll love much of what you offer of this sort, and it's a nice way to tame them--hand-feeding them some veggie treats. For pregnant and nursing does, variety is especially important. Offer the vegetables or leafy greens in season (the longer the season, the better). Garden and kitchen vegetables and fruit scraps can be included also, as long as they're not on the unhealthy list. If you're just starting to supplement a rabbit's diet in this way, go slowly at first until your bunny gets used to it. Limit what you feed so that surplus doesn't rot in the cage. Rotting surpluses are good for chickens or pigs, but not rabbits. In fact, rabbits can get sick from eating partly spoiled greens. Garden vegetables for rabbits, as for people, are mostly water. Greens are water plus lots of minerals and vitamins. Root vegetables are higher in energy supplied, lower in the mineral-and-vitamin department."

I can ususally find a picture of what I want to identify by going to Google Images and just keying in ~ Nevada weeds ~. Now admittedly all the plants in Nevada probably don't amount as many different kinds as some of you have on your back lot but nevertheless and image search on your state and weeds might work. There really are a lot of pictures out there.

If you own a .22 rifle, look for CB Long rounds; effective and no louder than a staple gun. Also note that relocating animals is technically against the law, not to mention you're handing over your problem to the next guy. Winter is a great time to cull the herd, because it's actually open season, and you're not going to leave behind a nest of helpless young to starve to death. I'm a rabbits in the yard hater, and a rabbits on the dinner table lover, but I do not want to leave a nest full of babies to die a long, miserable death by taking its mother away. Joe

The debated species is A. curassavica or Tropical Milkweed which is the popular species in Florida and much of the southern states because it does so well and comes back from roots each spring. Some say that it is causing the Monarchs to stick around longer than they should, but some say that once the Monarchs undergo the hormonal change that allows them to migrate and live so long in Mexico, then that is where they will head, regardless of what's in bloom. They will just have more sources to fuel up on the way south, but only in the southern states. The midwest is another story, where much of the areas monarchs might stop to refuel have been replaced by crop fields. I have read that some farmers in the midwest are starting to allow for 'wild borders' around the crops, but time will tell if this will be a boon or just not quite enough. Some Monarchs in South Florida never go through the hormonal change required to migrate and will instead stay. Some even say that South Florida is actually a natural stopping spot for migrating Monarchs from the Eastern US, it's just not as well known as the Mexican migrations. But those in South Florida not only survive the mild winters, they continue to breed and this leads researchers to think that maybe there just isn't enough genetic diversity left among those populations to ensure stronger offspring. And with all the development of suburban/retirement communities in Florida, we're quickly becoming a nectar/milkweed barren place as well. This is another case where lots of fingers are being pointed at one sure reason for the population decline, when the more likely truth is that there are a number of reasons causing them to disappear. Personally, I think the populations of Monarchs in Australia are proof that the species is able to adapt to climate and location, leading me to believe it is the many sterile yards and urban areas that deserve much of the blame. There are even many beautiful, plant filled gardens down here in Florida that are really little more than deserts to butterflies. Here is a link that might be useful: UF Article on Monarchs This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Thu, Jan 29, 15 at 9:53